


Unbelievable

by SueN



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Gen, Magnificent Seven AU: ATF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-29 01:40:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18768589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SueN/pseuds/SueN
Summary: Written for a VinList 1 Hour Fic Challenge.Theme word: Excuse.Vin is late for work.





	Unbelievable

He was late.

He was late and Chris was going to give him hell.

He was late and any minute now his cell ‘phone was going to start ringing.

Because what he really needed when he was running late was Larabee chewing on his ass and telling him he was late, forcing him to spend precious minutes explaining why he was late.

Minutes that could be spent concentrating on getting where he was going so he wouldn’t be so damn late when he got there.

Stopping for yet another red light, Vin slapped the steering wheel in frustration. He cast a glance at his cell, lying silently on the passenger seat, taunting him and seeming a whole lot more like a ticking time bomb than a communications device.

He checked his watch. Chris’ early morning meeting with AD Travis was due to end right about now. Vin cursed. He was still ten minutes out. 

If the meeting could just overrun by a few minutes, if Chris would stop and pass the time of day with Travis’ secretary, if...

The light finally changed from red to green and the Jeep lurched forward with a belch of smoke from the exhaust as Vin floored the accelerator.

If he could just make it to his desk before Chris got back from the meeting, he’d still be in before the rest of the guys and wouldn’t have to explain his tardiness to anyone.

Tardiness? Where the hell had that come from? Vin sighed. He’d been spending far too much time with Ezra. 

Ezra, who was never on time but never got pulled up on it anymore. Ezra wasn’t late, Ezra was just.... Ezra.

Another glance at his watch told him he was just five minutes out. Still the cell hadn’t rung and he was beginning to think his luck would hold.

On the other hand, Vin hadn’t lived this long without being prepared. 

He could blame the Jeep. Nobody would be surprised if he told them it had broken down... 

No, Vin shook his head as he remembered the last time the unreliable vehicle had let him down, refusing to start when he and Chris had been the last to leave the Saloon on a Friday night. A Friday night blighted by a force ten gale and horizontal rain.  
The image of Larabee, soaking wet, with water dripping off the end of his nose and a near maniacal look in his eye as he passed Vin a wrench from the tool-box was still fresh in the younger man’s mind. As was the threat that ‘the next time this rusting heap of junk breaks down it’s on a one-way trip to the scrap yard!”

Taking the final right turn just a shade faster than he should, Vin sighed again as he swung the Jeep into the federal building car park. He didn’t have it in him to lie, especially not to Chris. If it came to it, he’d just tell him the truth and face the consequences.

Swiping his ID card at the barrier, he gave the security guard in the kiosk a wave as he headed for the ramp and Team Seven’s allotted parking spaces. 

The only other car parked up was Chris’ Ram, and as Vin swung into his space alongside, he started to smile. Just a short ride up in the elevator and he was home and dry.

Grabbing his jacket and the still silent cell phone, he climbed out of the Jeep... and gaped as Ezra’s Jag slid smoothly into its space.

“Good morning, Vin,” Ezra greeted equally smoothly as he stepped from the car, Starbucks cappuccino in hand. 

“What are you doin’ here this early?” Vin demanded.

If he was offended by his friend’s tone, Ezra didn’t show it, he just raised an eyebrow as he turned toward the elevator.

“Have you forgotten that our esteemed leader called an early briefing, due to start in,” Ezra glanced at his watch, “eight minutes? I had expected you to be already ensconced at your desk, with a pot of that mud you call coffee brewing merrily.”

“Shit!” Vin exclaimed and stepped into the elevator behind Ezra as more cars could be heard heading up the ramp.

Punching the button, Vin shoved his cell into his pocket as the doors closed, and glanced at his own watch, willing the elevator to climb faster.

“Car trouble?” Ezra asked, an amused smile on his face as he sipped his coffee.

“What? ... No,” Vin sighed, “mind I did think of tellin’ Chris that’s what it was.”

“If I may offer some advice,” Ezra paused, receiving a nod in return, “I would suggest that your telling Chris anything but the truth is inadvisable. You are clearly not comfortable with lying to him, and he would see through an untruth in an instant.”

“Yeah, that’s what I decided.” Vin chewed on his bottom lip for a moment, then shrugged. “I overslept.”

“Well, if that is the story you wish to present, then I wish you luck with it.” 

“It’s the truth, Ez,” Vin declared plaintively, “ain’t never happened to me before but it’s the truth.”

“Really?” Ezra quirked an eyebrow as the elevator came to halt and the doors slid open to reveal Chris, glare in place and cell phone in his hand. “In that case, I retract my previous advice and suggest you fabricate something, quickly, my friend.”

Tipping an imaginary hat to Chris, Ezra glided past him into the office.

“Well?” Chris demanded as Vin stepped out of the elevator. 

“I overslept.”

“Yeah, like that’s gonna happen!” Larabee snorted, as he spun on his heel and headed for the office.

“Damn Jeep!” The curse drifted back over the black clad shoulder, “No more excuses, Vin, that useless pile of junk is gone!”

~~~


End file.
